DVD Review: Stephen King's Desperation

DVD Reviews

By Jeff Swindoll Aug 31, 2006, 18:31 GMT

Desperation - the novel from Stephen King comes to the small screen courtesy of frequent King miniseries director Mick Garris.

Mary (Annabeth Gish) and Peter (Henry Thomas) Jackson are driving through the Nevada desert. They’re pulled over by Deputy Collie Entragian (Ron Perlman) who seems friendly at first but turns frosty when he finds some pot in the trunk of the car (it’s also pretty obvious that Collie planted it there). He then puts them in the back of his patrol car, but as the ride progresses the deputy begins to act strangely. In fact when they get to the police station, only one of them makes it to the holding cells alive. Meanwhile, author John Edward Marinville (Tom Skerritt) is on a book tour across the country riding on his motorcycle. He has Steve Ames (Steven Weber) riding along behind him in a U-Haul truck with the equipment for his lectures. Ames has picked up hitchhiker Cynthia Smith (Kelly Overton) when he gets a strange phone call from the boss. Collie has also met Marinville and has planted the same dope on him to arrest him and take him to jail. Marinville was able to get off the one static filled phone call to Steve, so he and Cynthia are looking for Marinville. The unfortunate inhabitants of the cellblock, along with Marinville and one of the Jacksons (don’t want to spoil the Janet Leigh moment for you), are local veterinarian Tom Billingsley (Charles Durning), young boy David Carver (Shane Hoboucha), his father Ralph (Matt Frewer), and mother Ellie (Sylva Kelegian). It would seem that something was unleashed from some digging at the old mine and it has possessed Collie and he in turn killed most of the residents of Desperation. Collie takes Ellie from the cell and takes her to the old mine. David is able to soap himself up and squeeze through the bars of the cell once Collie leaves, but he has to kill a ferocious dog that Collie left to guard them. With the help of God, so he says, he is able to accomplish this. The inmates escape and make their way to the old, abandoned theater, but they also run into Steve and Cynthia who made it to the town to look for Marinville. David tells them that God has brought them all together to kill the thing that has been unleashed on the town.

Collie is taking mom for a ride

Quite a while ago I had a depress-athon and listened to the audio books of Desperation and the Regulators back to back. Luckily, I only have an electric oven so when I stuck my head into it I only received some fashionable grill marks instead of the desired outcome. I jest, of course, but I have to tell you that both books got me into a funk. Both involve the deaths of children and many likable characters bite the dust by the end of each. For the uninitiated, Stephen King wrote both (the Regulators under his Richard Bachman pseudonym) and characters cross over between each book. However, the books use some of the same character’s names and each feels like a parallel universe version of the other. Desperation the novel was over 700 pages long and this feature plays like a cliff notes version. I know that the book actually started off with our psycho deputy pulling over the Carvers and taking them to the jailhouse, in the show this has already happened. This was originally slated to be a miniseries on ABC. For whatever reason it was pared down to a feature length (running about 131 minutes). Whatever, the case I thought that the show was a good adaptation, however abbreviated. Now the other side of that coin is that if you thought that the novel was too long then you may prefer this abbreviated version. Though the show did run out of steam towards the end and perhaps even funds since the “well of Tak” is pretty fake in my humble opinion. The cast is pretty good for a TV movie. Always nice to see Charles Durning (looking rather old though) and Tom Skerritt, but the real star of the show is Ron Perlman as the deranged Collie. Desperation is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary from director Mick Garris, actor Ron Perlman, and producer Mark Sennet. They mention in the commentary that Desperation was at first destined for the silver screen with the screenplay penned by King. After many false starts, ABC suggested a miniseries version because of their association with King’s Shining miniseries. When the miniseries version was shortened it was decided to return to King’s theatrical treatment and this is what this version represents (tooled for television viewing of course). There’s also a 9 minute featurette called “Postcards from Bangor, ME” which has an interview with Stephen King and director Mick Garris. Garris. It’s split into chapters or you can use the play all function. Garris again mentions a 3 hour version of Desperation, but I think that he’s talking about before it was decided that it would be a TV movie. King also talks about how he got the inspiration for the novel by driving across country just like Skerrit’s character. Finally there are some trailers.

Marinville and company

I suppose that where you call in your love or hate for the original King novel will flavor your opinion of this telefilm. If you thought the book was too long then this might float your boat and if you liked the book you may find it too short. I did enjoy the film and the casual Stephen King fan will at least want to rent it. Stephen King's Desperation is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.

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JamesSep 2nd, 2006 - 15:29:56

I just wanted to say after finishing Desperation I felt like I had wasted three hours of my life. I have been an avid King fan for years but all I can say is I hope the book was better than the movie. Someone tell me it is please !!! I wont give anything away for those that were lucky enough not have seen it. Now lets see what did this movie lack ? For starters plot. The plot was thinner than Kate Moss and there was no character development, which King normally in his worst novels still does well. This movie had zero. This was the biggest mess of a battle between good and evil I have ever seen. In closing to any one who did not watch it on ABC last night I beg of you don't waste your money even renting this if it ever comes out on DVD. Again if the book was better great!
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DVD EditorSep 2nd, 2006 - 23:12:03

The copy of the DVD provided to Jeff by the studio for the review lacked any of the DVD's special features. Since the DVD does include commentary from director Mick Garris, actor Ron Perlman, and producer Mark Sennet; and there’s also a featurette called “Postcards from Bangor, ME” which has an interview with Stephen King the question of the quality of the film versus the book might be brought up. I watched about 30 minutes of the movie and cut it off. I love Ron Perlman, but couldn't get into this at all.

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MargaretFeb 17th, 2007 - 06:09:04

I have not seen the movie or tv showing of this, but the book was absolutely amazing. Stephen King is a gifted writer and his character development is so good. I had so many feelings coming from me while reading this. Feelings such as anger, rage, lust, sorrow, happiness, and many more. This is by far my favorite book that I have read yet.

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DVD Review: Stephen King's Desperation

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